The tragedy of the 1836 Scarborough Lifeboat

In 1836 there was a tragedy as the Lifeboat was going out to an Aberdeen vessel carrying general cargo. The Lifeboat was overturned near the Spa and ten men washed out of the boat, carried out of the sea and drowned. This is an eye witness account.

"It was distressing to hear the farewell messages of the men which they sent to their wives and families, and which could be distinctly heard as they floated away on the retiring waves. Three of the crew having taken the precaution of attaching themselves to the arm lines of the boat, were enabled, when it turned over, to scramble onto the underside of the seats, out of reach of the returning waves, deriving air through the scupper or scupper holes, from which the plugs had been forced."

"The only man visible was a man named Mollon, who had been washed to the shore side of the upturned boat, and clung tenaciously to his precarious position, despite the heavy waves breaking over him. At this juncture a number of individuals on the beach formed a double line by joining hands and taking advantage of the receding waves, reaching the poor fellow outside of the boat and bore him to the shore."

"The man was exhausted and the scene exciting; but became much more so when he gave information that 3 of his mates were yet alive under the overturned boat. Again the double line was formed, and one by one the men were rescued amid the congratulatory shouts of an immense multitude of spectators lining the beach."

This was taken from Ken Cleggs lecture notes on the Scarborough Lifeboat

OTHER ARTICLES
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Loss of the Scarborough Lifeboat November 2nd, 1861
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• Hinderwells account of the first launch of the Scarborough Lifeboat in 1802
• Children of the fishing families in Scarborough
• The loss of the Scarborough trawler Heritage in 1993
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• The history of the Scarborough Spa pump rooms
• William Cammish - log book of the Aurora - a Scarborough merchant ship
• The Allen and Truman Scarborough fishing families
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• Scarboroughs Lifeboat - the huge storms of October 28th 1880
• Lifeboat disaster in 1836 at Scarborough
• An epic Lifeboat rescue in Robin Hoods bay and a terrible tragedy
• Famous fishing families - the Whitby Storr family and the Leadleys
• The Borough of Scarborough formed in the 12th Century
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast

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